A/C foam

[dieseldonato]

I've heard mention of the thermostats sticking open and having the same results, slow to heat. I believe @burpod was the one that told me about it.

 

[P2B]

I've heard mention of the thermostats sticking open and having the same results, slow to heat. I believe @burpod was the one that told me about it.

Thermostat stuck open will make the engine slow to reach operating temperature and usually throw a P0128 - the idiot guage will even show it.

OP says he has normal engine warm up but slow cabin heat.

 

[John Wesley Hardin]

Thermostat stuck open will make the engine slow to reach operating temperature and usually throw a P0128 - the idiot guage will even show it.

OP says he has normal engine warm up but slow cabin heat.

Right normal warm up low cabin heat

 

[pkhoury]

Developed and sold by the late, wonderful @alphaseinor.

DSP "Foam Fix" Blend Door plug kit

The plug kit we designed and have been installing in our customer cars for years is now available for sale. Basically, if you don't have heat, or are tired of being pelted by foam coming out of your vents, this is the kit for you These are made in house, and typically ship the same business...

forums.tdiclub.com

Pretty sure still available through dspauto.com

I don't think so. Last I heard from his sister, his teenage nephew was making them until the 3D printer broke. I wish I could somehow get the files and make them myself, as I ended up with a nice 3D printer from his estate.

True story - Brian was originally selling them for like 30-40 bucks a set. Nice tidy profit, since it was like $1.50-2 in 3d printer plastic, and then shipping. Then Chinese suppliers started undercutting him. So he'd lower his own price. Shortly before his death, he was down to $9, and I think shipping might've been free? He was pretty explicit in doing what he did to disrupt their sales, knowing they would break even or lose money. I have his kits installed in several of my cars, but wish I had more of them. No clue how to use a 3D scanner, otherwise I'd start getting to work making more.

 

[pkhoury]

Have you watched temp with VCDS or a ScanGauge? That dash gauge lies.
Something isn’t right here, 25°F(-4°C) is barely below freezing, maybe heater core plugging up?

There's ways to change it though, thanks to @gmenounos ' kw1281test, a VCDS cable, and a utility like dashdumpedit. I cheat and have ColorMFA, so it reads me the value straight off the CAN/K-line bus, but the engine temp gauge reflects what the actual temp is, not just shoots up to the middle when you get to 160 degrees.

 

[csstevej]

Yeah I have several of his kits sitting on my shelf for our cars…..

 

[J_dude]

There's ways to change it though, thanks to @gmenounos ' kw1281test, a VCDS cable, and a utility like dashdumpedit. I cheat and have ColorMFA, so it reads me the value straight off the CAN/K-line bus, but the engine temp gauge reflects what the actual temp is, not just shoots up to the middle when you get to 160 degrees.

Hey that’s cool, didn’t know that could be done!

 

[STDOUBT]

Yeah I have several of his kits sitting on my shelf for our cars…..

Like pk, I have no idea how to use a 3d printer, but for posterity's sake, if you find yourself idle some time, maybe write up the exact dimensions of the pieces so that at some point a 3d guy might take a crack at putting a file together?
EDIT: I will likely need this repair eventually, but I'll go with HVAC tape before I buy Chinese.

 

[03TDICommuter]

FWIW, I have a couple of 3D printers. Anyone know what material he used? Was it ABS? PLA won't withstand the heat. PETG is marginal.

Were the plugs soft or hard?

 

[pkhoury]

Like pk, I have no idea how to use a 3d printer, but for posterity's sake, if you find yourself idle some time, maybe write up the exact dimensions of the pieces so that at some point a 3d guy might take a crack at putting a file together?
EDIT: I will likely need this repair eventually, but I'll go with HVAC tape before I buy Chinese.

I have some of his pieces, possibly a whole kit in one of my toolboxes. I think I got 2 or 3 kits from him sometime last year, of which one went on a car I fixed and flipped.

 

[pkhoury]

Hey that’s cool, didn’t know that could be done!

It's VERY handy. Especially if you have an immo3 cluster (which works in an immo2 or immo3 car), you can do so many different mods. Needle sweeping (which just looks cool), cruise control LED on cruise activation, changing the door chime/error sound, speedometer calibration, etc etc. And of course, get the SKC, among other things, including changing how the engine temp gauge works (so it's not just an idiot gauge).

FWIW, I have a couple of 3D printers. Anyone know what material he used? Was it ABS? PLA won't withstand the heat. PETG is marginal.

Were the plugs soft or hard?

They were hard. Definitely not soft. So I'm not sure what material he used. Actually, that's partly why I got a 3D printer from his estate; I gave him a cheapy $100 printer I got from Microcenter (another member of our retro club coerced me to buy it, but I haven't figured out what to do with it). But I never thought there were different kinds of 3D printer plastic.

Semi-related to this thread - if there are softer plastics available, it'd be awesome to 3D print those "caps" that keep the air vents (especially in a Golf) from going down all the time (adds some resistance, so the vents stay where you set them to).

Like pk, I have no idea how to use a 3d printer, but for posterity's sake, if you find yourself idle some time, maybe write up the exact dimensions of the pieces so that at some point a 3d guy might take a crack at putting a file together?
EDIT: I will likely need this repair eventually, but I'll go with HVAC tape before I buy Chinese.

Same here. There are some things there isn't much of a choice, but I try and avoid "Made in China" as much as possible. If I have an option, I'll go out of my way for Made in USA, Canada, Europe, even Japan.

 

[dieseldonato]

There are tons of different filaments to choose from for 3d printing. Your specific printer configuration and skill pretty much determines what filament you can print with.

 

[pkhoury]

There are tons of different filaments to choose from for 3d printing. Your specific printer configuration and skill pretty much determines what filament you can print with.

Honestly never really thought of it that way. Even Brian suggested I get into 3D printing, but I don't know the first thing about drawing something out, don't know about CAD, and I'm pretty far from being an engineer.

 

[dieseldonato]

Honestly never really thought of it that way. Even Brian suggested I get into 3D printing, but I don't know the first thing about drawing something out, don't know about CAD, and I'm pretty far from being an engineer.

We're in the same boat then, lol. About 2 years ago my wife bought me a ender s1 pro for Christmas.(now it doesn't look much like an ender, and running stand alone klipper on a raspberry pi) The last time I messed with cad software was in high-school and you needed to up the disk in the computer for the program to work, then save it to another disk after you were done. So it's like starting from scratch, and things have advanced from auto cad v1 lol.
Truthfully for day to day stuff (I print lots of stupid stuff for the kids.) You don't have to be very good at design work, there are tons of stl files out there for free or reasonable amounts of money. There are also cad guys that you can send examples to and they will make a 3d drawing of it and send the file back. Then it's just a matter of running it through the slicing program and tweaking print settings for the filament type and quality you're after.
If I had a do-over or knew my wife was going to buy me one, I would have went with a higher end printer from the get go, but it's been a really good learning experience having a cheap machine to learn on and upgrade. Biggest thing I would change is having an enclosure and evacuation system so I could reliably print abs and not have to run the more expensive abs + types of filaments to get the same results as an enclosed printer, plus keeping the fumes out of the house. Some of the hugger end and stronger filaments produce some nasty fumes/gasses during printing. (At least moat of the stuff that would be good for automotive uses.)

 

[fatmobile]

Voron 3D printers are a nice build-it-yourself project.
They have great community and vender support.
For many of the utube 3D printer guys that have several printers.
The voron is their favorite.

 

[03TDICommuter]

They were hard. Definitely not soft. So I'm not sure what material he used. Actually, that's partly why I got a 3D printer from his estate; I gave him a cheapy $100 printer I got from Microcenter (another member of our retro club coerced me to buy it, but I haven't figured out what to do with it). But I never thought there were different kinds of 3D printer plastic.

Is there still a memory card in his printer? If so, the files on it could contain the files we need, and the temperature settings in the file will get us close to knowing what filament he used.

 

[pkhoury]

Is there still a memory card in his printer? If so, the files on it could contain the files we need, and the temperature settings in the file will get us close to knowing what filament he used.

I'd have to contact his sister and find out. I don't think there was an SD card on my printer, though.

 

[pkhoury]

Is there still a memory card in his printer? If so, the files on it could contain the files we need, and the temperature settings in the file will get us close to knowing what filament he used.

So bad news - I talked to Brian's sister and she thinks all the 3D printers might've been sold or donated (out of her control). Do you or any others here have the ability to do 3D scanning? I *might* still have a plug kit available, if someone's able to 3D scan it. My background is in tech, but as aforementioned, I know nothing about 3D printing, let alone scanning.

 

[03TDICommuter]

So bad news - I talked to Brian's sister and she thinks all the 3D printers might've been sold or donated (out of her control). Do you or any others here have the ability to do 3D scanning? I *might* still have a plug kit available, if someone's able to 3D scan it. My background is in tech, but as aforementioned, I know nothing about 3D printing, let alone scanning.

Bummer! Actually, a photo of the plugs you have, and the dimensions from a blend door would be good enough.

 

[pkhoury]

Bummer! Actually, a photo of the plugs you have, and the dimensions from a blend door would be good enough.

That works, or I could mail you something so you're exactly sure. I'm sure it wouldn't be too hard to grab a blend door next time I'm at the junkyard, assuming I can get the steering wheel off.

 

[03TDICommuter]

That would be ideal - getting a real blend door flap. I could do it will just a tracing of the opening, but that might result in having to go back and forth a few time for a trial fit.

 

[NevilleMccoy]

Couple weeks a go or so after I installed my new A/C in the Jetta, I noticed what appeared to be a small piece of foam up in the double vents above the radio. Didnt think much of it till I went to pull it out. I started pulling on that thing , it was about 5 -6"long, 1/2 x 3/8" rect. pc of foam ! I couldnt believe. Anybody know where that came from ? Showbox jiofi.local.html tplinklogin

There are a lot of write ups on repairs from complete removal of dash and complete removal of HVAC box to disassemble and recover the panels to doing the repair with the dash mostly in place.

 

[Nuje]

Specific to that question: The foam you pulled out wasn't the blend doors, but rather, from the upper vent channel.

Taken from this video (probably the best step-by-step I've seen on how to get there).

 

[pkhoury]

That would be ideal - getting a real blend door flap. I could do it will just a tracing of the opening, but that might result in having to go back and forth a few time for a trial fit.

I think tracking said you should have those plugs tomorrow (Monday). Hopefully you're able to recreate them into usable files.

 

[dieseldonato]

Voron 3D printers are a nice build-it-yourself project.
They have great community and vender support.
For many of the utube 3D printer guys that have several printers.
The voron is their favorite.

I had considered building a voron or another core xy machine, but there have been several really good machines hitting the market recently that I wouldn't have to build. My time is pretty limited tbh, and as much as I like to tinker it just doesn't makes sense. With bamboo labs p1p and x1 carbon out, you can get a really well built core xy machine for $600.00 minimum.

I'd have to contact his sister and find out. I don't think there was an SD card on my printer, though.

Depending on his set up the files arnt on a SD card, most guys with multi printer set ups ditched the SD cards and went with virtual SD cards, however the file should also be stored on his laptop as back up.

 

[pkhoury]

I had considered building a voron or another core xy machine, but there have been several really good machines hitting the market recently that I wouldn't have to build. My time is pretty limited tbh, and as much as I like to tinker it just doesn't makes sense. With bamboo labs p1p and x1 carbon out, you can get a really well built core xy machine for $600.00 minimum.

Depending on his set up the files arnt on a SD card, most guys with multi printer set ups ditched the SD cards and went with virtual SD cards, however the file should also be stored on his laptop as back up.

I still need to image his imac. As part of his estate, I got some imacs, one of which was the one he used to run his shop, still intact. Just been lazy and haven't had the chance to image the hard drive yet.

Are there any particular file extensions I should be looking for?

 

[dieseldonato]

I still need to image his imac. As part of his estate, I got some imacs, one of which was the one he used to run his shop, still intact. Just been lazy and haven't had the chance to image the hard drive yet.

Are there any particular file extensions I should be looking for?

Stl, obj, 3mf, amf, would be the more popular, but and file from a cad/cam program can be converted. Stl and 3mf would be the more popular in my mind.
There are a ton of other extensions for cad programs that are dependant on the program in use. I don't even want to hazard a guess at those extension names, it's a big list. Good news is most are real easy to convert into an stl or 3mf file.
You can look for slicing software, utilimaker cura, prusa slicer, super slicer, etc are pretty common slicing programs.

 

[03TDICommuter]

I think tracking said you should have those plugs tomorrow (Monday). Hopefully you're able to recreate them into usable files.

Got them today! Thanks! These look simple to make, but I'm amazed at the number of pieces and the various sizes. Is this a complete set or is it a set for more than one model?

I'll measure them and start making some, starting with the round ones.

Dave

 

[pkhoury]

Got them today! Thanks! These look simple to make, but I'm amazed at the number of pieces and the various sizes. Is this a complete set or is it a set for more than one model?

I'll measure them and start making some, starting with the round ones.

Dave

Hey Dave - I think it's intended for one car, but with the idea that some blend doors might have different holes than others, so there would be "extra" plugs.

I don't remember how long Brian said they took to make a full kit - maybe 2-3 hours? He said his costs were something like $1.50-2 for the plastic and he was initially selling them for $39, until he kept lowering them down to $9.99 to try and screw over the Chinese copycats.

 

[pkhoury]

Stl, obj, 3mf, amf, would be the more popular, but and file from a cad/cam program can be converted. Stl and 3mf would be the more popular in my mind.
There are a ton of other extensions for cad programs that are dependant on the program in use. I don't even want to hazard a guess at those extension names, it's a big list. Good news is most are real easy to convert into an stl or 3mf file.
You can look for slicing software, utilimaker cura, prusa slicer, super slicer, etc are pretty common slicing programs.

Okay, good deal. I think when I clone the drive to an SSD, I'll load it up on a Raspberry Pi so it'll be easier for me to search (I'm very much a UNIX guy but not a Mac guy).